Knitting for family

This is how it started.. a big project. Mostly next to the Christmas tree.. which was a great way to spend my knitting nights. I wanted to make my sister in law a sweater for Christmas. She taught me how to knit so I wanted to make her something very special.


Here is the final product. I was very happy with it. I would have, however, made it a tad wider..




For her son, Juju, I wanted to make a sweater and line it with some adorable fabric. I was super excited for this sweater!!! and very happy with the outcome. However, when I was cutting the lining at one point, I cut the sweater! I have to learn more patience with these things. With the help of a sewing needle I was able to fix it.. I was quite devastated when it happened!! Can you imagine.. Hours of knitting and hurting hands.. just from one little snip!




Both projects were "learning" projects and I learned a lot. I am excited to venture into more sweater making!!! I have a few more on the horizon.

Itty Bitty Heafey

sorry I have been a tad MIA lately. I have been very busy with projects, a husband who has to work late to prepare for his weeks of travel, updating my baby blog, Oh yea, and taking care of my son :) I need a New Year's Resolution right now.. Put more time in Made By Lora!!! And on that note...


Oh I am so excited that I completed this project because of it's super cuteness. My good friend is due to have a baby any day.. and I really hope she doesn't have time to check my blog because I haven't delivered this yet... but I whipped up this itty bitty little outfit. It was my first time to make the vest and pants.. the pants were quite difficult, but all ended well in the end. I wish I wouldn't look like a total goon in this, or I would make one for myself.. could you imagine? Can't wait to meet little baby Heafey in a mere few days.

Making of the pants.. complete concentration was needed for the bum part! Which if you know anything about me.. concentration is not my strong suit.


The vest is an all open vest with buttons at the top and on the side.. making it easier to put on a newborn.



The pants are knit from the bottom-up.. then you separate the two legs and start knitting in the round for the bum. The waistband is elastic and I sewed the knitting over top of it.. then added the button.. and sewed the crotch.


The hat is just changing of yarn many times. and Voila! An outfit for the tiny tot!

Potty Mat

I wrote about this Mat over on my other blog today, but thought I should share it here too. Sorry for the duplicate post.

We are entering into the Potty Training stage. Huddy sits on his potty.. laughs a bit.. reads a book.. and that's about it. BUT he at least shows that he is interested in it and that's very exciting. Keeping with our thoughts about everything having it's place, I felt that the potty needed an accessory. So I decided to make a little Potty mat. When Huddy is done sitting he then places it back on the mat.. It's rather cute.

I used some leftover fabric I had and the bottom is from an old towel.

Big Project

Right now I am working on the biggest knitting project to date. It's somewhat stressful and one row takes me about a year to complete, but I am so excited to see the final outcome. Stay Tuned!

A personalized gift

I made this sweater awhile ago ..not knowing exactly where and who it would go to. When I was trying to decide what to make my nephew, Dalton, I was coming up short with ideas...I had already made him leg warmers and a hat. And then I remembered that I had this sweater with no home. The sweater was a tad itchy so I decided to line it with some really soft fleece and added a few little things that made it personal. I am so in love with lining things now.. I can't wait to make one for Huddy!





The lining was relatively easy. I just laid the fabric on the sweater and cut it out with the lines of the sweater. Then I pinned it like crazy. It is hand sewn because I was worried my sewing machine would ruin the knit sweater. I added the owls at the collar because there was a seam there that I wanted to cover up.. I just love how the owls peak out when the sweater is folded. The tag is made from some leftover fabric I had here at home and then the writing was done with a good old sharpie. There you have it, a personalized gift for a very special bambino! I can't wait to see it on him!

Hats! Hats and More Hats!

I have been very busy knitting and creating hats for my etsy shop. In the past month I have had 10 orders and that's a whole lot of knitting and sewing. It's great! I am really enjoying having an etsy shop!!! Now.. I have an arm warmer order to work on....



More hats to come...

2009 Advent Calendar

Seeing that I love Christmas, I decided to make my little one an advent calendar this year. It took about 2 days to complete, but so worth it.

To make the advent calendar, I mostly used wool felt and embroidery thread. I started by making individual squares and then hot gluing the numbers to them. Then I sewed them onto a big piece of felt. The trees, mountains, moon, star, deer and snowflakes are all cut from wool felt and then sewn on. The bird and mouse were needle felted from wool. The stick is from my mother in law's backyard and then sewn onto the main piece. And Voila! An advent calendar.